Investigating the Process of Technology's Entry into Modern Architecture

Today, technology manages all aspects of human life. This matter has gone as far that some philosophers believed that soon the human and the world would come to conquer the world. Therefore, different approaches to technology have been developed. Substantially, before the construction of Centre George Pompidou (1970-1977), the pivot role of technology in the architecture was not released to the public. However, Renzo Piano and Richard Raggers reminded to all the major development of the present century. The presence of technology in architectural drawing had gone so far that it included the reason and even the ultimate of drawings. Therefore, different majors have been made in the line of its improvement or against it. For example, “Biotech” was made in the line and for the improvement of “High-Tech” style putting nature as an instrument for displaying technology and protecting the nature, on the contrary styles as rural traditionalism, such as what accomplished by Hassan Fathi in Egypt, rejected modern technology. Although, the views of technology-generating or technology-importing countries in this regard is different, what is important is that in the present era considering damages to the human psyche and nature, the objective role of technology has been laid aside and what remains significant is high objectives such as meeting the man’s moral needs and attention to environment conservation which are fulfilled by having an instrumental look rather than an objective look to technology. Therefore, it is assumed that at the beginning of its entry into architecture, technology has been encountered with the people and architect’s fondness and its display has led to a type of vitality due to a sense of communities’ development, but after a while when its disadvantages have been identified along with its advantages, its usage has been reduced as needed. Therefore, seeking the process of technology realization in architecture this article deals with its review in facade, framework and the soul of architecture. Therefore, first the meaning of technology from the beginning to the present, strategies adopted against it and also how it was appeared in architecture have been explained, then by analyzing Pritzker architecture award, the creep of technology as an effect in facade and building construction has been studied. From the viewpoint of this approach, history can be divided into two eras, before and after the advent of technology. However, there are views that know the old inharmonic and simple tools as the first buds of the today’s high-risk technology, but “Rene Guenon” believes that the distinction between these eras of technology is based on the contrast which could be identified between two quality and quantity views dominating the old crafts and the modern industry. The advent of technology into architecture has been brought under consideration on four facets: The structure’s presence in the facade, the type of materials applied to the facade, the kind of building system used, and the degree of form’s signification in architecture (to be collated with the structure’s importance in facade: The buildings picked up for Pritscker prize have been studied longitudinally. In the study, as many as 126 buildings picked up for Pritscker prize are listed in tables and their diagram has been extracted from a separate section. The resulting diagram shows that the tendency to present technology into the world of architecture has been on the increase since the advent of TECHNE as well as its shinning presence in facade making, all at one and the same time being a sign of the degree of societies’ progression incrementally with time, having been yet even more expanded along with movements like Archigram in 1960 and “High-Tech” in the 70s not to mention building Gorge Pompidou in 1977 and the Shanghai Bank in 1981. Little by little, however, after the coming on of high-tech styles regarding technology as the finale of architecture, many opponents stood firm against it of whom the most prominent were environmentalists. Consequently, the high-tech architects joined the environmentalism movement to extend their own survival, bringing about the “Eco-tech” style. Finally, the trajectory of technology’s presence in the build-up of recent facade appears to the more showing itself off as contrasted with the time before the coming on of “High- Tech” despite the fact that it has not been followed by any growth: a proof that technology is now out with architecture and importance is attached to a number of other factors though technology continues to be an important tool for the purposes of bringing out architectural concepts: not that it is any longer deemed to be the goal, but its usage has colluded with some sort of advancement and refinement. The materials applied to facade in various buildings have been delved into as the first part of this section whose result is the materials categorization into six major classes.